Presenter: Rachel Parson, Family Home and Social Sciences, School of Family Life
Authors: Rachel Parson
Faculty Advisors: Tiffany Clyde, Family Home and Social Sciences, School of Family Life: Marriage, Family, and Human Development
Institution: Brigham Young University
Today's society heavily focuses on the body, which can influence one to have a negative body perception. Multiple studies reveal that media, parents, and sexuality negatively contribute to one's self-perception of their body. The question this current research sought to answer is if a spouse has an influence on their partner's body image. The CREATE project asked 2,182 couples likert-scale questions to assess their body image perception and marital virtues (spousal admiration, shared goals, and teamwork.) Pearson's and Spearman's correlations were used to evaluate for relationships between these variables, and the results are two-fold; a positive correlation exists between body image and spousal admiration, and also between body image and teamwork. However, more research needs to be conducted in order to completely trust these results, as tests were run to asses the assumptions that this data is linear and normal, and these assumptions were not met. This study expounds on past research that the perception of a family's comments on one's body and perceiving how a spouse views your body leads to bodily dissatisfaction. This study also aids future researchers, helping them to see a possible significant correlation between spousal compliments, seeing the positive qualities in the other, teamwork, and positive body image. future research should expound on this study to truly solidify these results.